Children’s Theatre presents Sleeping Beauty in Napa
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    By Phoebe Harper, Zirana internThe Missoula Children’s Theatre performed the classic Sleeping Beauty Saturday, June 21, at the Napa Valley Opera House — with some not-so-classic lines. “You don’t have to get in our face about it,” Emma Stevens, 12, said in her role as one of the no-good trolls. It’s a good thing, too, because, as stated in their musical number, “you can’t trust a troll.” For the past five days, the Napa Valley Opera House has been overrun with children, ranging in age from 5 to 16. Fifty-seven children, under the direction and instruction of the two directors, C.D. Caldwell and David Cross, spent four and a half hours every day this week perfecting the musical, a surprisingly complex show (for a children’s play) which touched on a basic theme — obey your parents. It was an original idea. Consider the princess, who is doomed to sleep for 500 years after pricking her finger on a spindle, and actually transport her 500 years into the future, from the 1400s to the 1950s, and have her awakened not just by a prince, but by the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll himself, Elvis Presley (played with great gusto by David Cross). The actors offered a common theme about the best aspects of being a part of the production. As Sarah Wilson, 12, succinctly put it, “I love to sing.” It was this love of acting and singing that put many of the young actors on stage. Samantha Lanoue, 10, glancing over at a fellow “housekeeper,” said something similar, that the best part of being an actor in Sleeping Beauty is that “I get to be on stage.” For others, the Missoula Children’s Theatre production is a kind of haven, a place for expressing oneself without fear of reprisal. The best part is “being able to dance and being silly and knowing no one’s going to laugh at you,” said Sarah Wilson. Of course, it wasn’t just the acting that drew some people. According to Torrey Van Winden, another troll, who said she switches off every year between this theatre program and another, “This year’s instructors are much better than in years past, and I’m going to stay here from now on.” The theatre, an idea launched in the early 1970s by Jim Carron and Don Collins, and which opened a home base in Missoula, Mont., in 1998, currently has teams that tour the world. With performance teams like Caldwell and Cross in every United State, some Canadian provinces, and several other countries, the theatre’s humble beginnings as an acting company with the idea of recruiting kids as actors are of no matter. The musical itself was short — only a little more than an hour, but packed with musical numbers, jokes and a clear connection between past and present. The medieval costumes worn by the children were offset by musical numbers with overtones of jazz, rock, and pop, with music provided by a single piano. Among the 57 kids were three who acted as assistant directors: Meghan Long, 11, Alli Finuf-Newman, 12, and Alex Loomis, 12. The best part of their job, Finuf-Newman said, was “that you get to use a headset and tell people when their cues are, and that’s not as much pressure.” Pressure or no, Sleeping Beauty was superbly acted by the young cast, especially considering the small amount of time they were given to rehearse. An outstanding opportunity for kids to try their acting and singing skills, and, as Emma Stevens put it, “meet a lot of new people,” the children’s theatre is always a success. The Missoula Children’s Theatre comes to Napa every year, and every year one can expect a great performance. For more information about the theatre, visit their website at www.mctinc.org. For more information about the Napa Valley Opera House, you can visit their website at www.nvoh.org. |
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